1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein pertains to a device and method for measuring foot speed of athletes and the like. The device is particularly concerned with the speed of the lateral and other step motions as may be necessary to excel in football, soccer and other athletic events.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objectives of the Invention
In recent years, sophisticated methods have been developed and used in training athletes and testing their physical abilities. Most athletes are required to have good running speeds as necessary in track events. However, in certain games such as football and soccer, the athlete's ability to move laterally and change directions quickly is of paramount importance. Football lineman must have the ability to rapidly change direction from left to right and back again. Also, football players need to have the ability to stop instantly, back up and quickly move forward. While the player's ability to run fast in a forward direction is important, it can be equally or even more important to laterally move and change directions quickly.
Various jogging devices have been developed in the past such as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,702 whereby game pieces representing runners and a display is connected to a foot mat which senses the motion of the jogger as he runs in place on the mat. Other devices have been developed in the past which are inserted in the runner's shoes to sense the impact as the shoes contact the ground during each stride. Signals generated by each step are in turn transmitted to a receiver and computer display as set forth in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,763,287 and 4,956,628. While these prior art devices are useful, they do not have the ability to measure an athlete's lateral motion or step quickness when the athlete moves from side to side a prescribed distance and each runner must have shoes designed to fit his particular feet.
With the shortcomings and disadvantages apparent of such known devices, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a device and method for accurately measuring the foot speed of an athlete.
It is still another objectives of the present invention to provide relatively simple electronic circuitry which will allow lateral or other foot speed to be measured, compared and displayed.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a device for measuring foot speed which includes a plurality of individual foot pads for use with any size shoes which can be separated a selected distance depending on the size or height of the particular athlete and the test or measurement requirements.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a device having electronic circuitry which will allow the athlete to visualize a numerical representation of his speed during measurement while an audio signal provides information relative to the increase or decrease of his speed by pitch variation.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed presentation is set forth below.